January 17, 2013

During the livery reveal event, AMR chief executive Tom Horton took a few questions from the media.

Here's what he had to say about the timing of the announcement and a possible merger with US Airways.

Q: Did the possible merger influence the branding decision?

Horton: Not really at all because this process started almost two
years ago. We were thinking about the new American irrespective of a merger. Now
I think whether we decide to merge or not, that’s a separate question. Of course
that will be informed by what creates the most value for our owners, what’s
best for our people, what’s best for our customers. But throughout this process
of restructuring and the evalution of the merger we have been steadfast on our
mission to modernize our company and that’s what this is about.

Q: Can you comment on the merger talks?

Horton: We ‘re not going to comment on it, because we’re right in
the middle of the evaluation. As we speak, with our board of directors, with our creditors
committee and with others, so we’re working through that and we’ll let you know
that when we have a decision.

Q: How much is the brand change going to cost and how long will it take to get the new livery on the entire fleet?

Horton: Cost and timetable. So the cost as you might imagine is
confidential but it’s very much in line with what other major companies have
spent in such a rebranding effort. What’ unique about American in this moment
in time, is that we do have 550 new airplanes on order, so those planes are
going to start coming into our fleet very quickly and so that’s a perfect time
to introduce this because the new planes are certainly being produced with the
new livery and it doesn’t require going back and repainting the fleet. So that
will bring the cost of this down significantly and the fact that it goes
alongside the modernization of the fleet and everything else we do is very
fitting.

Q: Did you discuss the new brand with US Airways? Did they have any input?

Horton: No. We are competitors today so we didn’t’ think it
appropriate to discuss it with them. I will tell you that I got home last night
and I called my good friend, [US Airways CEO] Doug Parker, and I informed him what we were doing
as a courtesy and so I did do that and we had a very nice chat.

Q: Why did you decide to unveil the rebranding now when the company is still restructuring in bankruptcy?

Horton: The restructuring is about making our company more
competitive, so we restructured our fleet, our facilities, our debt, our
leases, all of that has been modernized with the product in every way. We’re
going to come out of this strong with a competitive cost structure, a strong
balance sheet. So now it is time to turn the page and move forward....This has been in the work for two years. We were very much
focused on the introduction of the 777-300 and you can see… The plan was to put
the new livery on it and send those airplanes around the world and indeed that
is what we’re going to do.

Q: If your board does decide on the merger with US Airways will you have to redo your brand and logo?

Horton: I wouldn’t think so…This look sort of speaks for itself. This is, I think, a very powerful image for the new American whether we proceed
with the combination or not and I would think most folks would agree.

Q: Are you concerned with the issues going on with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner?

Horton: We have the Dreamliner on order. We have 42 firm and 58
options. I would expect eventually we would take all 100 of those airplanes as part of our
fleet modernization and growth. I think it’s going to be a great airplane. Clearly Boeing and the operators of the airplane are working through these
issues as we speak. We’re being supportive. We have great confidence in the Boeing
company and I think it will be a good airplane and those issues will be
resolved well before the time we take delivery of it